We arrived in Medellin from Bogota, after 10 hours of night bus and reached just on time to watch the wold cup final: France vs Argentina. We reached too early to check into our hostel, so we just sat on the terrace of a café broadcasting the match, with our backpacks around us.

You all know that part of the story already; 75 minutes of boring hopelessness and then the most formidable suspense until the last minute of an unending match!

Since then it’s been: “where are you from?” – « Francia » – « Oh, I’m sorry! » 😅

Medellin is home of the Paisas – that’s how the locals call themselves. Paisas are extremely proud of their city and their region, and everyone kept telling us « Welcome to Medellin! Medellin is amazing, much better than Bogota, Bogota is no good, we’re much nicer! »

Yet, to be honest, our first impression of Medellin was not as enthousiastic as that of Bogota. The centro, where most museums and culture is located, is rather dirty and doesn’t feel so safe. Other neighbourhoods are nicer but mostly residential or with many bars and restaurants (El Poblado, typically is where rich people and foreigners hang out)

When I was young, Renaud was singing the dying children on the sidewalks of Bogota, but it’s in Medellin that we encountered the most beggars, mostly women and children, from Venezuela, selling candy.

Having said that, Medellin has a much better transport infrastructure than Bogota, with Colombia’s first metro and even cable cars to connect the higher parts of this large city surrounded by mountains. (The « metro cable » was apparently installed by Grenoble engineers 🐓)

Medellin was home of the biggest, most famous, Colombian gangster, the one that should not be named in the streets! (initials P.E.) Much to the Paisas regret, PE has become one of the biggest touristic attractions of the city! A private museum is dedicated to him (that we didn’t visit), t-shirts and paintings of his portrait are everywhere and tours are organised to visit his hacienda, in which he had created a private zoo with African wildlife! Apparently, a colony of hippos are still striving and becoming a real issue for the locals!

Medellin was also home of Colombia’s most famous artist, and Plaza Botero displays a fantastic collection of giant bronze statues, all donated by the artist to his hometown.

One statue, of a bird, on plaza San Antonio, was destroyed by a bomb terrorist attack that killed dozens of people. Noone even knows who and why since all terrorist groups revendicated the act! The point here is that, when the destroyed sculpture was removed, Botero called the mayor of Medellin and urged him to keep it back in its place, for people to never forget what happened. He also donated a new copy of the bird sculpture to be placed next to the destroyed one, as a sign of hope.

After years of extreme violence in the 80s and 90s, Medellin has resurrected from its ashes and transformed into a modern city. Yet, petty crime is still present and Paisas are always warning us to remain careful. In a taxi, one day, as the car was beeping, I tell the driver: “You’re like my dad, you don’t like to wear the seatbelt!”. He then explained that it’s for his own security, because thieves can use the seatbelt to strangle him!

In Medellin -thanks to Zenly again- I met with Paul, another colleague, french of colombian origin, who settled in Medellin, married a Colombian girl and together they founded Makata; the graphics designer behind much of Zenly’s cute 3D designs.

From Medellin, we made a two days excursion to visit lake Guatape. This beautiful lake, with a coastline so intricate that makes it look like a bunch of entangled rivers, was created 45 years ago, by submerging an ancient village, to create Colombia’s largest dam.

Many rich Paisas own a country house on the shore of the lake. Including famous PE of course, whose bunker house was bombed with 200kg of dynamite by a rival gang!

Overlooking the lake is the Piedra del Peñol, a gigantic standing rock that can be climbed for 20kcop per person, using the 750 steps leading to the mirador and the tourist shops. It’s crowded with tourists, but the view is indeed a sight for sore eyes!

An hour east of Guatape, we also went to San Rafael, to see some waterfalls and swim in the river. Because who doesn’t like to swim in a river a day before Christmas? 😀

We returned to Medellin on the 23rd and that’s when we really discovered the true, genuine, Paisa hospitality. We were hosted by Mauricio and Liliana who rent a part of their house on Airbnb. We were delighted when they invited us to share their Christmas eve’s dinner. We brought some wine and chocolates and joined the couple, Liliana’s mother, and Phil, a retired American who spent the past 2 years (!) in the second appartment they rent in their house. (Mauricio’s father was an architect and the house is actually divided in 5 apartments, one of which is occupied by Liliana’s mother)

Not only did they invite us for dinner, but they even had small gifts for us under the tree! ❤️ We ate cold cuts and salads and then a chocolate cake with ice cream.

The next day, they also invited us to spend the day with them and some more family, in the finca of Liliana’s brother, in Santa Elena, up on the mountain. It was a beautiful day and they cooked the traditional Sancocho; a big soup of meat and vegetables cooked over firewood, that all families make and share on Christmas day.

We spent the day chatting, dancing, playing music and frisbee! Sharing Christmas with such a lovely Colombian family was the best experience we could wish for ❤️